Imagine, you are the IT pro of your company. It’s a good day:  systems are running fluently, no patching pain, happy users.

But in one moment, everything turns upside down: A security vulnerability has been found. Like recently, when the Polkit Escalation of Privilege exposure came up. Polkit is a toolkit for managing policies related to unprivileged processes communicating with privileged process. The vulnerability allows any unprivileged user on an affected system to easily gain root privileges. This is a prime example of how data protection abuse is almost predestined to happen, and that can become very expensive. For example, a HIPAA violation penalty can cost a hospital system a minimum fine of $50,000!

For the IT pro, a rapid response to threats like Polkit is critical to avoid great potential damage to the enterprise. In this hypothetical case, it is fortunate that our IT pro is working for a company using IGEL! The recent IGEL OS release 11.06.250 has closed this particular security gap as quickly as it was identified. IGEL OS release 11.06.250 provides a fix for the Polkit Escalation of Privilege vulnerability, and also includes  integrations of the latest clients for:

• Citrix Workspace App 2112
• Horizon Client 2111
• Zoom
• JVDI
• WebEx VDI
• WebEx Meeting VDI
• Grundig Driver Update

With IGEL OS, IT teams can deliver the latest technology advancements from IGEL’s many technology partner companies while sleeping better at night!

Citrix Workspace App 2202 is now available with IGEL OS!

On February 14^th, 2022, Citrix announced the very latest version of the Citrix Workspace App – version 2022. Just 10 days later, on February 24^th, 2022, IGEL began to offer support of this new Citrix client software to our customers. If you would like to use the Citrix Workspace App 2022 within your VDI environment, simply ask your sales contact for IGEL OS version 11.06.257.

The post Mind the Gap appeared first on IGEL.

7 Reasons Why Citrix Workspace and IGEL OS Make an Incredible Pairing

What good is a pen without paper? Shoes without socks? Bread without butter? Yes, pens, shoes and bread are all good things. But they are even better with the perfect mates that will enhance their use.

Perfect matches are true for digital workspaces as well. Such is the case with Citrix Workspace and IGEL OS. Yes, Citrix Workspace brings all of your apps and data into one secure, unified workspace experience that’s personalize for every individual. But pair it with IGEL OS and incredible things can happen.

Consider these seven key benefits of using Citrix Workspace and IGEL OS together:

1. Get to and access the cloud faster. IGEL OS has been purpose-built for enterprise access to virtual environments. It enables a secure, high performance experience for seamless access to workspaces deployed across Microsoft Azure or any cloud – particularly Citrix Workspace. It can not only simplify but streamline the implementation of Citrix Workspace for a faster time to cloud workspace value.
2. Ensure seamless integration with 100+ ecosystem technologies. IGEL OS is complemented by an IGEL Ready ecosystem of over 100 integrated technologies which have been validated to support IGEL OS environments. That means that when implementing IGEL and Citrix together, you also have immediate access to existing environments and the supporting technologies that will further enhance your environment.
3. Gain enterprise security, end-to-end. When deploying Citrix Workspace with IGEL OS-powered devices, you will benefit from enterprise-level security for all users from endpoint to cloud. IGEL’s “chain of trust” helps further boost this security posture and IT admins have the visibility to monitor every workspace in real-time and automatically push security updates.
4. Support user collaboration and communications. Together, Citrix and IGEL are optimized for the unified communications users want. From Microsoft Teams to Zoom, the pairing delivers an optimized unified communications experience for more productive users.
5. Lower both CapEx and OpEx costs. Because IGEL OS enables the simple repurposing of existing, even aging, endpoint device hardware, it can dramatically lower capital expense costs by delaying or bypassing a PC estate refresh. Likewise, the combination of Citrix and IGEL also lowers operating expenses via easy, streamlined endpoint device management and by allowing organizations to only subscribe to cloud services that are necessary for the organization.
6. Manage scale with ease. Citrix Cloud services and IGEL OS are the perfect combination for a dynamic endpoint environment. Citrix Cloud services simplify the delivery and management of Citrix technologies , helping you to extend existing on-premise software deployments or move one hundred percent to the cloud. At the same time, IGEL supports large-scale endpoint enterprises as well. Using the IGEL Universal Management Suite (UMS), IT can easily configure up to 300,000 IGEL OS-powered devices from a single console. This makes management – no matter the environment size – seamless and easy.
7. Make users happy. Bottom line is, no benefit is more important than the delightful experience of users. Joint Citrix and IGEL customers get the rich, productive user experience employees expect, on any device, anywhere.

“With Citrix Workspace, Citrix Cloud services and IGEL OS at the endpoint, enterprises can securely deliver all the tools their employees need—SaaS apps, web apps, virtual apps and more—while simplifying IT management and speeding up deployment,” said John Panagulias, Director, Ecosystem & Technology Partner Programs, Citrix. “The combination is hardware agnostic to empower any environment without a heavy hardware investment, while delivering the rich, robust and secure user experience companies need, for users working anywhere. It truly is an ideal combination for the best digital workspace experience.”

Citrix and IGEL for the Channel

For channel partners, the combination of Citrix and IGEL is even more valuable. If you are a Citrix partner looking to deliver more value for your customers you need to introduce them to IGEL. It will help you reduce the time to value of the end user computing solutions you deploy because IGEL is hardware agnostic, flexible and verified for use with Citrix Cloud. It will also help you delay or avoid hardware refreshes which can release budget for other cloud investments while speeding up projects and shortening sales cycles.

“Citrix and IGEL go together like peanut butter and jelly,” said Al Solorzano, vice president, End User Computing, Entisys360. “Citrix focuses on delivering a secure solution, that allows for flexibility through deployment choice and the highest quality experience for many years. IGEL aligns perfectly with that vision by delivering a secure endpoint OS for cloud-based workloads, along with the flexibility of choosing your endpoint hardware and the interfaces to deliver the best experience for users and administrators. Anyone looking to take full advantage of Citrix Cloud should be deploying IGEL solutions without question.”

If you are looking for the perfect partner to pair with your Citrix Cloud implementations, don’t forget about the power of IGEL. It’s the pairing that will enable your cloud workspaces to do more: faster, more securely and more flexibly than Citrix Cloud on its own. Learn more about IGEL + Citrix here.

The post IGEL + Citrix®: Incredible Things Happen with the Perfect Partnership appeared first on IGEL.

If remote workers could have one holiday gift from their employers it would be a workspace that supports collaboration apps (think Teams), provides airtight security commensurate with corporate networks, and ensures connectivity that is as consistent at 10 a.m. as it is at 3 a.m.!

All remote workers’ desires for a more secure, trouble-free workspace can be fulfilled. It takes a combination of a next-gen edge OS (IGEL) and a leader in delivering apps over a virtual environment, to the cloud (Citrix). Right now, we’re focusing on helping customers leverage IGEL OS with Citrix Workspace to provide the device flexibility, conferencing capability and security remote workers need to be more autonomous, yet highly productive while confidently knowing their work remains safeguarded and protected.

One of the most dramatic changes has been the explosion of web conferencing usage. The web conferencing market is expected to reach a value of $78,547.9 million by 2030, from $2,109.3 million in 2019, and is projected to progress at a 39.3% CAGR during the forecast period (2020-2030). A distributed workforce cannot afford wonky connectivity, poor graphical quality or sporadic bandwidth fluctuations.  The Citrix Workspace App, powered by IGEL OS 11.04, is optimized for unified communications such as Microsoft Teams and Zoom as a Workspace App client. With Citrix and IGEL remote workers can have a crystal-clear voice, video and webcam experience.

Security concerns remain an issue for all employees, but the remote working phenomenon has brought endpoint device security to a new level of fear. Not just the random BYOD device used occasionally while traveling, the new generation of remote workers rightfully feel their ‘home’ devices can be put into play. Deploying IGEL’s read-only, modular Linux-based OS on each endpoint provides an end-to-end “chain of trust” security from device boot to cloud workspace execution. Regardless of device, IGEL’s central management console can monitor every desktop in real-time and automatically push security updates.

Speaking of endpoints, remote workers are getting used to the feeling of being more independent of IT, thanks to advanced platforms like Citrix Workspace and IGEL OS. They will typically use more than one device in any work week. IGEL OS supports this flexibility since it is hardware and device agnostic, enabling customers to leverage existing hardware while migrating and transitioning workloads to the cloud quickly. Also, innovations like the IGEL UD Pocket enable a remote worker to securely boot up their user profile on any hardware, ensuring no threat to the network.

A Partnership Rich in Innovation and Vision

IGEL’s ongoing collaborative partnership with Citrix is, without question, a key factor in IGEL’s continuing success in serving the evolving workspace market. Notably, Citrix is a linchpin and an inaugural member in our IGEL Ready alliance program. We are always engaging in the field to ensure our mutual customers’ success and execution of an efficient deployment of Citrix applications and workspaces with IGEL OS. Responding to market changes like exponential growth in web collaboration and conferencing is another aspect of our partnership. Our engineering and product teams are closely collaborating to deliver Day 0 support for new releases, functionality and new features in Citrix Workspace App.  To date we have achieved Day 2 support for the most recent version of Teams – a particularly important benefit  for WFH collaboration to our mutual customers and their support teams.

Want to learn more? Check out this joint Citrix-IGEL infographic which shows how you can connect better and do more, faster, with Citrix Workspace and IGEL OS:

With 2021 approaching, IGEL continues to focus on new joint product opportunities and specific feature enhancements to collaborate on with Citrix. Perhaps we should use Teams? Stay tuned for more exciting news to come!

Image licensed from Adobe Stock.

The post WFH Gets Even Better with Citrix Workspace + IGEL OS appeared first on IGEL.

Over 100 million users trust Citrix, with 17,000 organization currently running on IGEL OS. Why is this pairing so trusted? One of the big reasons is added workspace flexibility, no matter the location. Any compatible x86-64 device, regardless of the manufacturer, can be converted to IGEL OS and with the UD Pocket USB device, a personal PC can transform into an IGEL OS-powered Citrix workspace. Even on a mobile device the Citrix Workspace app can be utilized.

Being productive while working from home can be a challenge but IGEL and Citrix make it both easy and secure. The Citrix Workspace portal makes accessing any business application simple on any device and IGEL’s endpoints auto-configure based on predefined profiles. This means Citrix gives access to all apps that are used for work – web, mobile, virtual, and SaaS from one portal. IGEL OS can also be easily installed with no-touch deployment and drag-and-drop profiling. See more in this infographic.

IGEL OS and Citrix can also save you money by reducing CAPEX. The Citrix Workspace application gives users access to all desired desktops, apps, and cloud workspaces from any device. With IGEL OS, existing hardware has an extended life, delaying the dreaded “hardware refresh” by years and the added disruption and cost that goes along with it. Employee-owned PC’s can also be used simply and securely while working from home.

Working from home can be efficient with Citrix and IGEL. In addition, remote Windows patching is no longer needed, and endpoints can be updated quickly and reliably with automated configuration. System integrity from endpoints to the data center or cloud is ensured with Citrix and IGEL’s chain of trust. Plus, Citrix Workspace with IGEL OS is highly customizable. Customize the name, application color, and theme to keep things fresh while working from home. Learn more in this tip sheet.

End-users were starting to integrate at-home and remote work even before the COVID-19 pandemic.  Now work-from-home has become the “new normal” for a huge new population of workers.  Fortunately, with Citrix and IGEL, users have the freedom to get their work done from almost anywhere, and IT maintains full management and control of their data, apps, and endpoint device assets regardless of their location.

The post Citrix Workspace and IGEL Enable Secure Working from Anywhere appeared first on IGEL.